Love at First (Or Second) Sight

by Elizabeth Narins

If John Mayer has indeed “met you in a sandbox,” “passed you on the side walk” or “watched you walk away,” (as the “Love Song For No One” lyrics claim) and you are looking for a way to find him, look no further than Craigslist’s “Missed Connections”, a unique category of personals for hopelessly romantic, love-at-first-site-seeking singles.

Log on to your local Craigslist page (where you’ll find classifieds for more than 550 cities in over 50 countries worldwide), and see if you missed a connection by scrolling through posts, which often look something like this:

“We traded glances and a smile on the L train around 9 p.m. You were wearing black frame glasses, classic pearl earrings and the cutest short haircut that framed your face perfectly. I would love to talk to you. I know this is a long shot, but if you felt the same way maybe you are looking here also.”

Sure, it may be a long shot, but with over 50 million users each month, you never know. Curiosity kills no cat in this case; after all, someone may be looking for you. While there are no statistics on how many of these missed connections have actually been mended, Gawker did do a hell of a job breaking down where missed connections occurred in New York City over a period of five days in 2006.

On Craigslist you can also post a regular personal ad and file it under women seeking men or men seeking women, misc romance, casual encounters (no-strings-attached sex), or strictly platonic. There is also a category for rants and raves. While this may seem like an open forum for the virtual bitch-slapping of anyone or thing, we’re sure it has a more genuine purpose. (Suggestions, anyone?) Each listing lasts for seven days in large cities and 45 in small ones, and range from one-liners to 2000-word novels that fall somewhere between an autobiography and transcription of an hour-long therapy session.  

The beauty of personals on Craigslist is the price: personals are a free for all –i­n terms of both cost and sincerity. Like most other Craigslist-ings, you truly have nothing to lose by listing or browsing. Your identity –including your e-mail address, which is anonymized– is totally concealable. Only a small percentage of listings include photos, which can be a blessing for the modest, only-personality-matters seeking sort, and a curse for those who can admit they care about looks and online credibility.

We’d love to give missed connections some credibility of its own: if you know anyone who has connected or reconnected on Craigslist (or if you are the gorgeous watch salesman who asked what I was looking for, but should have asked for my number –hey you, I’m still single!) then let us know with your comments below.